MTSU says that Tennessee Democrats want their party to stick to its guns, while Republicans want it to become more conservative now that it holds a supermajority in the state legislature and nine of the state's 11 seats in Congress.

"Democrats want their party to dig in, and Republicans want their party to double down," Dr. Ken Blake, the poll's director, said last week. "Practically nobody thinks their party and the other one should meet halfway."

Former Republican senators, governors join Alexander's campaign for 3rd term

Already stacked with Tennessee Republican heavyweights (although not the politically tainted U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais), U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander's campaign now has added six men who know a thing or two about winning statewide office.

The campaign announced Friday that former Govs. Winfield Dunn and Don Sundquist and former Sens. Howard Baker, Bill Brock, Bill Frist and Fred Thompson will serve as honorary co-chairmen as Alexander seeks a third Senate term in 2014.

"In 2002 Alexander ran for office after spending more than half of his professional life in the private sector. Today he is honored to serve Tennesseans in the same seat held by Howard Baker and later by Fred Thompson," the announcement said.

The House Calendar and Rules Committee, which usually just schedules bills for floor votes without any debate, voted Thursday morning to send House Bill 589 back to subcommittee at the request of state Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol.

The move might be the death knell for the bill. It takes about two weeks to send a bill through a committee. And that's before factoring in steps that could further slow the bill, like burying it way down on the agenda or asking for an attorney general's opinion.

The Senate, meanwhile, has yet to hold a single hearing on the bill. With lawmakers talking about winding up the committees at the end of March, time may be running out on the measure.

- Chas Sisk

Dean aide leading neighborhoods office

Courtney Wheeler, a key player in Karl Dean's two mayoral campaigns, has returned to Nashville to direct the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods.

Dean introduced Wheeler on Wednesday at an event focused on the history of Nashville neighborhood associations during the 50 years of Metro government.

Wheeler, an attorney, has spent most of her career focusing on Democratic political campaigns. Along with serving as deputy manager of Dean's first campaign in 2007 and manager of his much less competitive re-election bid in 2011, she worked for President Barack Obama's campaign as voter protection coordinator last year. She also has been director of special projects for the Democratic National Committee.

She's been on the job about two months.

- Michael Cass

Nashville bundlers brought in millions for Obama's re-election bid

The list, which the campaign released last weekend, put attorney Charles Robert Bone, former Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester, real estate executive Bill Freeman and Dave Garrison, an attorney and former state party treasurer, in the category of fundraisers who brought in at least $500,000 each - the top level, including about 250 individuals or couples.

The campaign did not break down the amounts raised by individual bundlers any further, making it difficult to tell exactly how the Nashville fundraisers compared to their counterparts around the country. Freeman, a potential mayoral candidate in 2015 , said he raised $800,000 to $1 million.

Also on the list from Nashville were venture capitalist Andrew Byrd and attorney Wally Dietz, each of whom raised $200,000 to $500,000 for the campaign.